Wednesday, April 06, 2011

Predictors of racial identification among whites

A question in the MIDUS Study shows that fewer than 10 percent of white Americans completely fail to identify with their race. Let's see which factors predict identifying closely with one's race among whites.

Except for age and education, all of the predictors are significantly related to identifying with one's race. These categories are associated with greater identification: females, churchgoers, those high on extraversion, agreeableness, negative emotionality, conscientiousness, and low on openness to experience. All of the relationships are weak.

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"The creation myth was the essential bond that held the tribe together. It provided its believers with a unique identity, commanded their fidelity, strengthened order, vouchsafed law, encouraged valor and sacrifice, and offered meaning to the cycles of life and death. No tribe could survive long without the meaning of its existence defined by a creation story. The option was to weaken, dissolve, and die." ~ E.O. Wilson